Through defined weld joints high productivity improvements are achieved!

The company Neusser Formblech, based in Neuss near Düsseldorf, develops a numerous amount of system solutions for sheet metal processing, especially in the fields of machine equipment, electrical engineering, and the utility vehicle industry. The company's strength, with its 115 employees, is in providing excellent and modern manufacturing engineering along the entire supply chain to the growing sheet metal market. Next to the constant expansion of new technologies, Neusser Formblech's central aim is to provide a holistic solution for the individual and specific requirements of their customers. Worldwide, the sheet metal components from Neusser Formblech – everything from the single device through to a whole series of items – are installed in all kinds of work situations. An innovative company from Neuss, which acts on the international parquet with its committed employees.

Neusser Formblech provides a huge variety of its products in steel, copper, and aluminum with a wide range of modern manufacturing processes: 2- and 3D Laser treatment, punching, tilting and reforming, welding and brazing, turning, drilling and milling, as well as almost all coating technologies. For example, KTL-Coating, which not only ensures a consistent coating and high corrosion prevention, but it is furthermore possible to powder the devices automatically or lacquer the device with a wet coat afterwards. The manufacturing process is controlled by a SAP-System.

With the requirements to increase the quality of the welding process as well as to reduce the cycle time, the company Neusser Formblech from Neuss, near Düsseldorf, approached the Panasonic Robot & Welding Team in order to fulfill these expectations specifically for the welding of a cassette, which is used in the fields of plant manufacturing and cement industry. Neusser Formblech searched for a solution where the devices could be stretched and accessible in an optimal way, so the whole welding process could run fully automatically. The target was sophisticated: This should allow a low cycle time compared to manual welding and an improved quality of finished components with clearly defined weld joints. Through this demand, Neusser Formblech could improve its post-treatment enormously.

Neusser Formblech decided to invest in a PerformArc Cell Type H-Frame with the TAWERS TA-1800WG3 Welding robot with two PanaDice positioners. The advantages of the TAWERS Systems are the integrated Inverter Pulse welding power source; additionally, as standard, the robot includes the weld navigation software and the new G3-Controller with Ethernet connection possibility. These functions are unique to the Panasonic solution. The implementation of this robot automated system signals a very important productivity improvement: Not only during the welding process but also in the general product handling and manufacture procedure. Neusser Formblech is benefiting from a high reduction in cycle times across a variety of products. Typically, for each process, a welding time of 35–40 minutes is saved. Therefore, the processing time could be declined significantly.

Panasonic PerformArc Cell optimizes processes at Neusser Formblech. Additionally, excellent stability of weld joint quality can be achieved through the use of the Panasonic robot. Utilizing the fully automatic welding procedure of the Panasonic SP-MAG process ensures the weld joints consistently are clearly defined. The robot easily reaches the difficult accessible welding positions due to the large working range of 1796 mm reach and its high movement speed with a repeatable accuracy of +/- 0.1 mm.

The easy-to-operate and user-friendly programming of the system is additionally an advantage for an efficient workflow. Here, the integrated weld navigation from Panasonic supports the operator, especially in finding the optimal parameter for power, voltage, wire feeding speed, and torch angle.

'I can clearly state that the weld joint quality with its improved visual appearance as produced by the Panasonic welding system is in a superior quality sector. The huge amount of different options and the flexible handling of the robot pays off!', says Dr. Sahm. He also added, 'Panasonic's proper and efficient service performance supports the excellent cooperation.'

Neusser Formblech is convinced of this robot-based solution and plans already to integrate more products in the welding cell. 'With the system solution of Panasonic, we were able to reduce cycle times enormously and therefore save production costs. For us, this is an investment benefit for the long run!', sums up Mr. Tröster, factory manager of Neusser Formblech.

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